Air Purifiers.....what's the best for wood smoke?

[turning_blue]

I am in a small neighborhood that has many puffing chimneys. I am trying to find the best air purifiers for my bedroom, and two of the rooms downstairs. What does everyone like here?

Thanks!

[bodhi]

greetings Turning Blue, welcome to the forum...
here are a couple of links to check for info about air filters and cleaners:

http://burningissues.org/self-protection.html

http://www.google.com/search?ie=UTF-8&o ... Issues.org


also you may wish to search the posts of woodnyet. i think he recently had a post about air filters.

best of luck,
bodhi

[Wilberforce]

Turning Blue,

This posting is an intro to research I am doing on a project I am calling: "Smoke Removal From Indoor Air"

I have to say that the experiment I've been putting off needs to get done soon. The first experiment is based on
the fact that smoke tends to desublimate (deposit) on cold surfaces. A dehumidifier's cold evaporator coil comes
to mind, although I doubt that you would want to remove moisture in an already-dry heated house in a cold climate;
we usually have to add considerable moisture, in order to maintain comfortable indoor humidity levels in winter.

Maintaining a positive pressure indoors is very helpful in keeping pollution out. But since this requires drawing in
outside air, the incoming air would have to be well-filtered. If you have an attached, unheated garage, you might
consider drawing in the air from that point. With the garage door closed, the enclosed space can act as a sort of
'buffer zone,' so to speak. That is, any airborne particle pollution entering the cold garage space will have a chance
to settle out (deposit on the cold surfaces within the enclosed space) When the air finally enters the house itself,
at least some of the PM will have been removed from the incoming air.

Try not to run bathroom fans or clothes dryers during burning times, as these fans draw polluted air into the house.
Place air cleaners on the floor, right below a window, where most of the cold air seeps into the house in extremely
cold weather. In addition to a good air cleaner, I keep a large tray of activated charcoal in every room. Two trays are
better. It is an excellent odor absorber for not only smoke, but cooking odors, as well as pet odors.

If your local hardware store does not sell activated charcoal, try this online store:
Carbon Activated Corporation
http://www.carbonactivatedcorp.com/

The second experiment has yet to be conducted. It is another technique of smoke removal. I thought this up months
ago, but did not have time to get it done. When I do, I will post all of the results as an amateur research project paper.

breathe clean air and live longer!
Woodnyet

[turning_blue]

I ordrered the Aireox air purifier last night. Thanks bodhi for the recommendations. I just read the reply from Woodnyet, and those were very helpful tips. I am glad I asked. I will also check older posts as bodhi suggested. I wish I could find a clean air neighborhood/town/state.

Thank you both!

turning_blue

"blue"

[Wilberforce]

Turning Blue,

I'm happy to be of help to you. That is what this forum is here for. Here are more suggestions which
I should have included in the previous post:

1) Always enter/exit your home through your buffer room (enclosed, unheated, attached garage, etc.)
This will minimize the entry of poisons into your living space.

2) Never open any windows (a no-brainer)

3) A lot of indoor plants may help filter smoggy indoor air. I don't have any science to back that up,
but plants may help somewhat.

4) Get rid of your natural gas stove and replace it with electric. Even gas produces nanoparticles,
although not as many as oil or wood fuel. Don't burn candles or non-vented kerosene heaters, either.

5) I would not buy an air-cleaning machine which has the word 'ion' or 'ion breeze' as these devices
generate ozone and free electrons. They do work on the particle matter, alright. But they also 'work'
on the lungs! Believe me, you do not want to have chronic exposure to ozone, even at low levels.

Ozone is one of the most powerful oxidizing agents known to man. It leaves permanent scar tissue
(burns) in the lungs. The good thing is that ozone is unstable, and spontaneously decomposes (into
oxygen) within a few minutes of being generated.

6) The electrostatic-plate devices are only marginally useful, as the air passes too quickly between
the charged plates, so as to really capture only a small percentage of the particles. They work best at
the lowest air speeds, as does any filtering device. But again, there is the possibility of ozone.

7) Speaking of ozone, be advised that certain types of electric motors generate ozone:

There are two types of electric motors employed in consumer products:

(a) Brush-type motors, used for high-torque requirement applications. These generate some ozone.
Some motors are worse than others; the best ones are the enclosed type, which confine the gas. If you can
smell a sharp, irritating smell within the vicinity of the (running) motor, it is of the non-enclosed type. Do not
use it indoors. I have an old, cheap paper shredder which stinks from ozone, and I only use it outdoors.

(b) Brushless (induction) motors, which generate essentially zero ozone. They have little torque,
and are used in appliances such as fans, clocks, battery-powered toys, and so on.

[Ernest Grolimund]

WWW.iqair.com says their Healthpro plus air cleaner is the the #1 rated air cleaner according to the American Lung Association. It removes aboout 98% of pm2.5 down to .003 meters. Ordinary Hepa filters let about 90% of smoke through so this is a big improvement. They also use 2-3" of activated carbon with special chemicals that removes about 95% of the toxic gases including voc's and vah's. Cost is $900 more or less. I used one all winter and it was very good against 50 mcg/ cubic meter pm2.5, I estimate. No smell. I tested the air before and after with a sears envirosense air cleaner with two opacity meters. Before, I got very unhealthy air readings; after, I got healthy air readings. Mary Rosenburg has one too and likes hers. It could be a lifesaver. Old woodburning equipment, including fireplaces, creates about 25 mcg of pm2.5 outside and levels near my house were estimated to be 75 mcg. The Maine DEP checked my plus or minus ballpark estimate for calm wind conditions. An electrolux air cleaner does'nt get it all.

I caulked sills. Taped basement windows. Installed v weatherstripping on 3 windows on the positive pressure side of the house where smoke got in after checking with a registered mechanical engineer who said it would probably be ok in an emergency. When the air is good you can crack the windows. Infiltration was sucked in through windows without eddy pockets or where the smoke didn't build up. It helped my daughters asthma
tremendously. No asthma attacks. No colds. Better breathing ability tested by peak flow monitering. FYI, I have BS civil engineering, and wife works in a hospital as a Med. Tech.

[turning_blue]

Thanks so much Ernest!

Just one? Where did you place yours?

[Ernest Grolimund]

I placed mine in the living room on the west side of the house with west prevailing winds. Did first floor. There wasn't a problem on the second floor. Toxic gases sink as does pm. The 2nd flr windows are in the peak of a cape. Did not v weatherstrip the 2nd flr window. Had an electrolux air cleaner so I used it there. In the Bible, Exodus, the egyptian first born were killed. Scientists of today believe God sent a groundhugging earth gas plume from an earthquake that only went 1 sty high. The first born coincidently, slept on the first floor.

[turning_blue]

My neighbor has a low chimney, so the smoke was coming into the second floor as well as the first. We have a least 6 people who burn on our street. The houses are close together too. Some of these neighbors use more than one fireplace in their home. Some recently bought backyard fire pits and chimineas. No break here. Thanks for explaining how you are able to achieve some success with your wood smoke armor. I wish God would send "a ground hugging earth gas plume" to the inside of each of my wood burning neighbors home. They refuse to acknowledge all the harm they are causing with their wood burning. They claim they find the "smell" pleasant. Some say they don't smell the smoke. Olfactory damage is one of the first things that happen with excessive wood smoke.

[turning_blue]

http://www.aircleaners.com/#Bio-Net+Air+Purifier

I read today about this Bio Net Air Purifier.

Then I found this site http://www.allerair.com/index.html This one has selling articles for each type of air pollution.

[Ernest Grolimund]

I'm an engineer by education who was faced with life threatening wood smoke. I shopped and researched air cleaners for months and own several varieties. I learned that ordinary hepa filters only filter to .3 microns and let 90% of smoke particles thru. Iq air claimed it and the Am. Lung Assn gave me scientific articles on smoke by Naeher and other sources that verified that hepa filters do not work for smoke, They work great for pollen and allergens. But the hyper hepa filter in the healthpro plus gets down to .003 microns! and gets almost all of it. In addition, it has a lot of activated carbon varieties that get out the most toxic gases I could find. Testing is not as good on toxic gases but the activated carbon was recommended by everyone. I had the unique experience of being able to test it to some degree with a Sears envirosence air cleaner with two opacity meters. The Sears unit ran constanly reading very unhealthy for dust and odors. The IQ AIR air cleaner cleaned the air within minutes to healthy levels.

I also watched my asthmatic daughters peak flow tests normalize. So, I'm sold on it and Mary Rosenburg is too. She is the expert at Clean Air Revival and she bought one about the time I did. Another prodigious researcher of written scientific information who goes by the code name of woodnyet on the forum also recommends it as the best he has seen. It does not kill germs perhaps. I don't know. But it is great for smoke! The Am Lung Assn also tested it and rated it #1 and they are a world authority on air pollution. If you are facing dangerous wood smoke pollution from burning you are in an extreme situation. I would not balk at the $900 price. I do not know how it would handle wildfire smoke. That could be orders of magnitude more. I have an IQ of 140 and studied this as much as I studied anything in my life. Check me people and write. T. Blue may have heard of a bad sales man but Jesus said there is no one good. That's why I check everthing and why every scientfically trained person checks everything and everybody. Godspeed.

[turning_blue]

Thank you Ernest. I trust you!!! The IQ Air http://www.iqair.us/

http://www.smokeeaters.org/cigarette/iq ... eview.html

I have chemical sensitivities too (asthma). Think this would be good?

[Ernest Grolimund]

Bill Turner, PE, ME, and Am. Lung Assn member told me that activated carbon is the best thing he knows about for chemicals and my daughters doctor recomended him, so I believe it would help.

People who are smoked out like you were could be subject to damage to the immune system from immunotoxic gases in wood smoke. When your immune system gets damaged you may be more prone to infections and viruses are a frequent trigger for asthma. It is with my daughter.

The health pro plus is like the multigas except that it has a little less activated carbon. But it seems to work just fine for woodsmoke.

Nothing is perfect, so the fight for clean air must go on. Personally, I love fresh air from outside as it has a natural balance of positive and negative air ions and they have powerful effects on health too.

Everybody is talking about CO2 building up in the atmosphere but the oxygen content has dropped in half according to Dr. Donsbach and NASA. Donsbach, DCH, gives oxygen IV's for some desperately ill people in Mexico and has studied oxygen a lot. That is another factor to consider in a clean air revival. You can only hold your breath for so long. How can we dare to depart from the air God designed for us? We know nothing.

[johnsoncris65]

I’m not an asthma sufferer but 3 out 5 people close to me suffer from the condition. It is hard to be around them because their asthma triggers are usually invisible to the naked eye and once they’re hit, they’re hit bad. They either end up taking tabs, puffs or get nebulized in worst-case scenarios. There have been known side effects of these medicines, thankfully I haven’t witnessed any of my friends of family getting to that end and I would prefer not to ever have to witness that. Now I used air cleaners at home to to get rid of wood smokes, dust and other air pollutants that cause asthma. And it really helps me alot.

[minna]

I am in a small neighborhood that has many puffing chimneys. I am trying to find the best air purifiers for my bedroom, and two of the rooms downstairs. What does everyone like here?

Thanks!

A lot of the times what happens is your lungs end up filtering out all the things you’re allergic to, which is what brings on the allergic reactions. But with something like a smoke air purifier it will filter out all the things your lungs would. It removes all the hazardous bodies in the air, which can cause diseases.